On the relationship between fundamental science and contemporary applied research in the field of high-rate laser Nanowhiskerography

In practice, in various areas of life, there is often a need to use materials that have mutually exclusive requirements. Therefore, the study of the issues related to manufacturing materials in certain states for certain technical applications, and methods of controlling structurally sensitive properties to obtain specified effects, is quite relevant today. A new effect was discovered, namely, the rapid growth of amorphous and composite materials in the form of “coherent” nanowhiskers using laser-induced plasma at temperatures exceeding 4,000oC and high pressures up to 100 thousand atmospheres at a rate reaching 80-100 m/s. This method of growing whiskers is based on fundamental studies of pulsed laser radiation and predictions of Nobel Prize laureates – Ch.H. Townes, A.M. Prokhorov (splitting of a laser beam of above-threshold power) and G.A. Askaryan (effects of self-focusing of light in the condensed state of matter, and sublimation evaporation). The authors show possible practical applications of this method, such as protection of securities, banknotes, and plastic cards, as well as production of a new type of silicon batteries, automotive catalysts, and solar silicon batteries.

“Sparking” and “Igniting” Key Publications of 2020 Nobel Prize Laureates

PurposeThis article aims to determine the percentage of “Sparking” articles among the work of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine, physics, and chemistry.Design/methodology/approachWe focus on under-cited influential research among the key publications as mentioned by the Nobel Prize Committee for the 2020 Noble Prize laureates. Specifically, we extracted data from the Web of Science, and calculated the Sparking Indices using the formulas as proposed by Hu and Rousseau in 2016 and 2017. In addition, we identified another type of igniting articles based on the notion in 2017.FindingsIn the fields of medicine and physics, the proportions of articles with sparking characteristics share 78.571% and 68.75% respectively, yet, in chemistry 90% articles characterized by “igniting”. Moreover, the two types of articles share more than 93% in the work of the Nobel Prize included in this study.Research limitationsOur research did not cover the impact of topic, socio-political, and author’s reputation on the Sparking Indices.Practical implicationsOur study shows that the Sparking Indices truly reflect influence of the best research work, so it can be used to detect under-cited influential articles, as well as identifying fundamental work.Originality/valueOur findings suggest that the Sparking Indices have good applicability for research evaluation.

Niels Thygesen: An Academic in the Making of European Monetary Union

Niels Thygesen (born 1934) played for nearly five decades an influential role as a policy orientated academic, especially in the process of economic and monetary integration in Europe. He is especially known as a member of the Delors Committee and as the first Chair of the European Fiscal Board. As part of a re-search program on collecting memories, this paper publishes the results of several interviews with him. His early life offers insightful observations on the develop-ment of the economics profession in the postwar years (he was close to Nobel Prize laureates as Franco Modigliani and Milton Friedman). Thygesen's involvement with the process of European monetary integration really started in 1974 with his membership of the Marjolin Committee (which provided an assessment of the failure of the 1970 Werner Report). Since then he has been involved in a multitude of committees and initiatives, like the OPTICA groups, the All Saints Day Manifes-to, the Committee for Monetary Union in Europe (an initiative of Giscard and Schmidt) and the Euro50 Group.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS’ IN LITERATURE SPEECH STRATEGIES (BASED ON THE AWARD CEREMONY SPEECHES)

This research is devoted to semantic-stylistic and paradigmatic features of Nobel Prize laureates’ texts, implemented through public speech. The results of the study allowed to identify and clarify the basic pragmalinguistic principles and structural and functional features of banquet speech, as well as various speech strategies and tactics that are necessary to achieve a communicative intention. Laureates’ intention is to express a creative and philosophical worldview, as well as gratitude to the commission for the Nobel Prize awarding and to her or his colleagues for their assistance in the study.